Fighting instinct, finding success: Murali Vijay takes his own road to the top

Openers as a rule have a tough time in Brisbane. Coming into the Test, no visiting opener had scored a Test hundred on the opening day at the Gabba. In fact, the highest score was Joey Carew’s 83 for West Indies in 1968. The last 50-plus opening partnership was back in 1980. That is a lot of years without 50-plus stand, leave alone a century, and it tells us something about the wicket; about the kind of support it gives the new ball bowlers. [caption id=“attachment_1854053” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Murali Vijay celebrates his century during day one of the 2nd Test match between Australia and India at The Gabba. Getty[/caption] The first day of the second Test between India and Australia was no different. The pitch had a decent covering of grass and from the first ball, there was good carry. It was a typical Australian wicket – it wasn’t Adelaide and perhaps many would say it was the kind of wicket where Indian batsmen would forget their bearings and quietly shift into minnow mode. But from the beginning, today seemed different. India’s openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan left the ball exceedingly well and took advantage of anything loose. There was an element of risk but it was a calculated one. Vijay is particular wasn’t tentative – when he did decide to go after the ball, he would usually go at it hard and in most cases, it cleared the close-in fielders. The duo went on to add 56 runs and in the course of the partnership did enough to get rid of the opening jitters that every visiting team faces in Brisbane But the driving force at this point was not the uber aggressive Dhawan, instead it was Vijay who set the tone. he went on to make a brilliant 144 and also became the first visiting opener to score a Test hundred on the opening day. We have all seen Vijay bat in the IPL. He is a very clean striker of the ball and on his day, he can take the opposition apart. But Test cricket requires a lot more tact. You don’t have the same license to go after the bowler and the new ball is a completely different challenge. Vijay is proving he can adapt to that challenge. With every match, his reputation as an opener continues to grow. So much so, that right now, given the importance of opening stands, he is probably the most critical batsman for India. Vijay traces his success to adopting a different mindset. In an interview to BCCI.tv, he said: “What I’ve learned in the last eight-nine months is that you cannot always play by instincts. I’ve realized that as an opening batsman, I cannot say, ‘Okay, this is how I know how to play and I will stick to it’. It might work for someone but for me it doesn’t. “I’ve just got to curb my instincts and be prepared to play out of my character. I learned that lesson in South Africa and then did well in New Zealand. I put all that experience in use when we went to England. We went their early and I had the time to figure out what would work for me in these conditions. The century (146) at Trent Bridge strengthened my confidence a great deal. It told me that I can play out of character and score runs for the team. It is especially satisfying to successfully do something that doesn’t come naturally to you.” Big scores are, however, starting to come pretty naturally to Vijay. His temperament has impressed one and all. He is organized and left the ball really well early in his innings. He was also lucky. He was dropped twice in the course of his innings on 36 and 102 – both times by Shaun Marsh - but he continued to bat in the same vein. A quick look at his wagon wheel reveals just how well he took his chances: 154 dot balls, 24 singles, 7 twos, 6 threes, 22 fours. This was him fighting his shot-making instincts and staying in the middle. But he wasn’t holding back at all times. After reaching around 60, he started to play a few more shots. There were some that went in the air but he didn’t seem very worried or rushed. He was doing what he wanted to and looking comfortable doing that. For any opener, this is the trick. As Mathew Hayden and Virender Sehwag used to keep saying, ‘You have to make the bowlers bowl to you.’ At one point in the Indian innings, of the total of 20 boundaries hit by the visitors, Vijay had hit 18. Until Ajikya Rahane joined him in the middle, he was single-handedly carrying the Indian innings. In the final session of the day, India put on 160 runs in 30 overs and much of that is down to the impact the opener had on the Aussies through the day. Vijay also became only the second Indian opener to make a 50+ score at Brisbane. Sunny Gavaskar made 113 (in 4th inngs) in Dec 1977 - 37 years ago. And that is some company to be in. In fact, such for his focus that he wasn’t even aware of his score when he got to his century. “It was a good thing because I got out for 99 in Adelaide,” said Vijay at close of play. “I think you can only go close to perfection and I am pretty happy with the way I played.” In the end, perhaps Vijay gave it away by charging Nathan Lyon. But still India will take 144 and the belief that we now have an opener we can trust. With every innings, Vijay is starting to show that he belongs to the Indian team and to international cricket. Mentally, Vijay seems to have discovered his sweet spot and as things go, it can only get better from here.